Although Rav Miller's accomplishments between his wide
variety of shiurim, shul life and writings were
almost in the realm of the supernatural, his fame spread
through the world in the wake of his famous Thursday night
shiur.

Rav Miller had introduced Shabbos morning droshos,
which those who heard them said were "a spectacular,
unbelievable experience."

Mordechai, who had been searching for a mentor and found it
in Rav Miller, described listening to his droshos as,
"an emotional and intellectual experience. It was a
masterpiece delivery which combined idealism with avodas
Hashem. You felt he was speaking to Hashem."

Mordechai had always yearned to capture Rav Miller on tape
but since he only addressed the congregation on Shabbos, he
was unable to do so.

However, Rav Miller did give a short shiur on the
late summer nights between mincha and ma'ariv
on Chovos Halevovos which lasted only 20 minutes.
Mordechai implored Rav Miller to allow him to tape that
shiur.

It was no simple feat. Compact tape recorders were unknown
and the tape recorders in those days used large reels of
tape. They were heavy and large, and a strong man was needed
to transport them. Mordechai asked his father's friend if he
could borrow his machine, and he brought it to shul.
Finally, he had recorded Rav Miller for the first
time.

His disappointment was huge when Rav Miller approached him
afterwards and insisted that he erase the tape. Rav Miller
felt he had spoken too sharply against a certain group, and
would not agree that it remain on record.

It was a tremendous disappointment for Mordechai, who
reluctantly gave him the reel. As a consolation prize, Rav
Miller arranged a special shiur during the week for a
few close students in the shul who were attending
yeshivos. That shiur became the first Rav Miller tape
in existence.

Rav Miller then told Mordechai, "Don't worry. Some day there
will be miles and miles of tapes of me." This was before
cassettes had been created, and before people even thought
of listening to tapes. At the time it sounded fanciful and
didn't make sense. But his words proved prophetic.

Then another development occurred in 1967, which turned out
to be a major milestone in Rav Miller's life.

It all began with a young Sephardic man in his 20s who was
trying to imbue his life with more Judaism. Pinchos used to
daven with the Sephardim in the nearby Shaarei Tziyon
shul. During the 60s, there was a major influx of
Sephardim from Syria and Egypt to New York since Nasser had
been making life uncomfortable for the Jews in the Middle
East. They had established their own community in Flatbush
around the Shaarei Tziyon synagogue.

Pinchos didn't know how to read well, and he had a friend
who he used to daven next to, and who would help him
out. If the friend wasn't there, Pinchos felt too
uncomfortable to daven alone. Since the prayers in
Shaarei Tziyon went at a fast pace, he decided to switch to
a minyan where the praying was slower and he could
keep up with the prayers.

Someone suggested he daven in the nearby Mirrer
Yeshiva because they davened slower.

But after five months of davening in the Ashkenazic
yeshiva, Pinchos was feeling frustrated. Although he was
able to more or less keep up with the minyan, he
wanted to feel closeness to Hashem. He felt he wasn't making
progress in becoming a better Jew. His tefillos still
took much effort, and he didn't know what else to do.

That day, he was finishing his lengthy prayers after
everyone else had left the beis hamedrash and only a
few people remained. Suddenly, he got an idea. Pinchos
prayed silently to Hashem, "Give me a sign that You're
listening to me! Could you do something small, like lifting
this chair? No, I take that back. I realize I can't ask for
such a thing. But wait! I have an idea. There's a school
yard of boys playing ball outside. You know what. Lifting
the chair is too much of a miracle to ask, but what about if
a ball breaks a window of the beis hamedrash? I'll
know it's a sign and the others will think its an accident.
What about that, Hashem?"

Pinchos waited several long minutes, but no ball came
through the window. He felt disappointment and
discouragement.

But suddenly there was a tap on the arm. It was a little boy
who was telling Pinchos something in Yiddish. Pinchos told
the little kid that he doesn't know Yiddish and he should
say it in English. So the boy told him that Rav Shraga Moshe
Kalmanowitz wants him to come over. Pinchos saw an old man
with a white beard sitting in a chair near the aron
hakodesh. He had no idea who he was. But he went over to
him.

"I saw you praying here for five months," Rav Kalmanowitz
told him. "The window you're davening next to is the
only window without a dedication. I would like you to
dedicate it in honor of your grandparents. What do you
think?"

Pinchos was taken aback. Although he was working and had a
business, the amount that Rav Kalmanowitz had mentioned was
way out of his league.

But the two began to speak and Rav Kalmanowitz discovered
that Pinchos was a member of the Sephardic community nearby.
He asked Pinchos if he would like to start a shiur
for himself and his friends.

It sounded good. "Yes, why not?" Rav Kalmanowitz told him
that he had an eloquent speaker, who is well versed in
science and the contemporary world. Pinchos was agreeable.
He imagined it would be a diplomaed Orthodox professor or
scientist.

He received Rav Miller's telephone number from Rav
Kalmanowitz, phoned Rav Miller and arranged for him to speak
that Thursday night in the large Shaarei Tziyon shul. He
specifically asked permission from his rabbi in Shaarei
Tzion, at Rav Miller's request. Pinchos assured Rav Miller
that he would take him after the shiur to his home in
East Flatbush which was 25 minutes away.

At the appointed day, Pinchos saw a rabbi with a big black
coat, big hat and beard walking up. The first feeling that
flooded him was "What did I do to my friends? Here comes a
typical vuzvuz (Yiddish-speaking Ashkenazi Jew)!"

Pinchos and his friends were all young wise-guys in their
20s, who had no great respect for rabbis, whom they
considered ancient relics of less progressive times --
despite the fact they were all shomer Shabbos. The
twenty boys had grown up together since first grade and were
best friends. They had only agreed to come because of their
respect for Pinchos.

Their disappointment was huge when Rav Miller came in. One
of the boys let loose a wisecrack, "My name is Chita
[not his real name] and it means `wheat.' "

Rav Miller answered him sharply: "My name is Miller and a
miller crushes wheat."

Rav Miller's sharp comment silenced the boys, but he knew
that not for long.

He asked the boys, "Do you want to talk about Rambam or the
Knicks?" The Knicks were a basketball team in New York.

The youths preferred to hear about the Knicks instead of the
boring talk they imagined the rabbi would give.

Rav Miller stunned them when he delivered a five-minute
speech on the Knicks' latest moves and scores. None of the
young men in the room was as up-to-date on the Knicks team
as was this ancient-looking rabbi! Pinchos didn't know how
to digest this strange phenomenon.

After five minutes, the rav moved on to the Rambam anyway.
The Sephardic youths sat with their mouths open throughout
the speech. They were surprised to see how articulate the
rav was. They had not at all been expecting what they heard
from him. Finally, after an hour of speaking, the rav
finished the shiur.

Pinchos drove Rav Miller home.

On the way, he asked him, "Rabbi, tell me truth! How did you
know about the Knicks?"

Rav Miller mentioned casually that he had taken the garbage
out for his wife and noticed a corner of the newspaper that
had stuck out of the bin. When he pushed the scrap of
newspaper back in, he saw it was a piece on the Knicks.
That's how he got his expertise on the Knicks.

Pinchos soon discovered that Rav Miller was an expert on any
topic that was brought up. Rav Miller was an avid reader and
could speed read. He possessed encyclopedic knowledge
because he retained everything he saw. Whatever you asked
him to speak about, he could hold forth his own with
ease.

The Uniqueness of the Thursday Night
Shiur

The Sephardic youths returned for the following ten weeks,
and then the class was moved to a classroom in the Mirrer
Yeshiva. Word got out and then several Ashkenazic boys
joined the shiur from the yeshiva itself. The
shiur grew. Soon there were 40-50 boys crowding into
the classroom and not enough room for all. It was clear that
another solution would have to be found.

Everyone found it incomprehensible how Rav Miller could talk
to Ashkenazic youths learning in yeshiva and young modern
Sephardi adults in the work force, and each felt he was
addressing their most important questions and doubts.

Thirty-four years later, after Rav Miller's levaya,
Pinchos mentioned to Rav Miller's grandson. "I had asked
Hashem to lift a chair or make a ball go through the window
to show me He was listening and that He really was there.
But Hashem decided to answer me differently. He told me,
`I'll send you one man in my universe who can show you Who I
am.' That man was Rav Miller. Over the past 30 years, Rav
Miller not only taught me to know that there is a Hashem,
but I feel it as clearly as my own existence."

What was so special about Rav Miller's shiurim? For
one, he fearlessly spoke out on every topic you could think
of. Although his recurrent themes were about seeing Hashem
in nature and how every creation testifies to its creator,
he talked about everything under the sun. Bringing up a
Jewish child. Obtaining fear of Hashem. Recognizing when the
yetzer hora is moving things. Shemiras Haloshon.
Utilizing one's free will. A man's greatness. What is
chesed. It's difficult to be a disbeliever. Benefits
of misfortune. The Afterlife. Everything happens because of
the Jews. Reply to missionaries. Teshuva is a
Gift.

Rav Miller spoke about the wonderful world which Hashem had
created. He brought the puff-ball of the dandelion to class
and explained all the wisdom inherent in this lowly weed.
His students sat there agog, and realized for the first time
that only G-d could have made this creation. He did the same
with apples, oranges, weeds, flowers and even humble
creations that most people hadn't given a thought to.

He talked about loving Hashem. "Who is the one you have to
love like yourself? he asked his audience. It is Hashem. He
became excited when describing how Hashem feeds all his
creations. He explained how the entire process from egg to
adult chicken was just a six week process. This quick
process enabled the world's population to be fed. He would
enthuse when describing a sign he saw on a supermarket
announcing a sale on Polish ham for half price. "Look how
Hashem is feeding all these non-Jews, and at half-price no
less!"

A thousand people sometimes attended his shiur. He
would artlessly command them, "I want you all to say, `I
love you Hashem!' " They would get up and say it too. He not
only made you say how you loved Hashem, but he made you feel
it too. He taught the Jewish world to love Hashem.

One close disciple who listened to hundreds of his Thursday
night shiurim explained the impact they had on him:
"There is no question that due to him, my emunah in
Hashem is clear. As sure as I see myself, I see Hashem."

He emanated love for all Jews and even non-Jews to a certain
degree. He was a universal Jewish solvent. There was no
difference in his love and reverence for different Jewish
communities. He frequently praised the Sephardic community
for their reverence to their Torah sages and saw virtue in
all of them.

Another theme he spoke about frequently in his Thursday
night shiur was concern and respect for one's fellow
man. If you blow your horn late at night to call someone to
come out, he said you were a robber, because you were
depriving the neighbors of sleep. If you're going to
selichos early and talking with your friends and
making noise, better you shouldn't go.

He bid his listeners that if they pass a vegetable store and
a piece of fruit fell onto the floor -- they have to pick it
up no less than if it was a million dollars. The fruit was
equivalent to the man's money, and since a Jew has to be
concerned with his fellow man's welfare, he has to make sure
his possessions were safe from injury.

If you pass a home, Rav Miller averred, you can see from the
outside whether someone lives there or not. If the windows
are broken and the house is dirty and unkempt, no one is
home. But if the house is in good shape and there's a clean,
orderly garden, you know someone is living there. In the
same way, the orderly and meaningful arrangement of the
world testified to Hashem's creation and management of it.
He spoke about one after the other phenomenon in the world,
and kept showing you how they were just imprints of G-d's
genius touch.

He also spoke extensively on themes from Tanach, like
the purpose of exile, the Avos, the downfall of
Korach, the lessons to be derived from Scriptural
personalities, and Jewish holidays. The shiur was
usually an hour long, but no less interesting was the half
hour at the end when Rav Miller took questions from the
audience on anything they wanted to ask.

Pinchos was mesmerized. He felt the rabbi had opened his
eyes. Instead of satisfying him, though, it made him feel
even more thirsty. He asked Rav Miller if he could meet him
privately. He thought he was being pushed off when the rabbi
invited him to join him for his 7:15 walk in the morning.
But Pinchos went and was rewarded with riveting discussions
about life and a person's role in the world. The two would
walk along the sidewalk and Rav Miller would point out
wonders Hashem had created just for their pleasure. Pinchos
gazed at these commonplace miracles as if seeing them for
the first time.

"You cannot see electricity," Rav Miller told him, "but you
know that it's there because if you stick your finger into
the socket, you'll get a shock. That's how we have to
understand Hashem's presence. Whatever we look at shows us
that He's there."

When his own congregants heard about the riveting Thursday
night shiur, they also wanted to attend. But Rav
Miller insisted that they keep to their gemora study
at night.

Rav Miller on Tape

When the Thursday night shiur numbered 50 boys, two
brothers who were regular attendees made plans to continue
their yeshiva studies in Israel. They asked Pinchos to tape
the class and their parents would pick up the tape every
Friday and send it to them in Israel. Pinchos was glad to do
it.

Then a short time later, someone else asked Pinchos for a
copy. After that, the requests came in fast and thick.
Finally there was no way out but to buy a special reel
machine that recorded the rabbi and copied the speech onto
cassettes.

Rav Miller tapes began to reach the wide public in 1972. As
soon as an advertisement was put in the paper, the demand
for his tapes grew.

The shiur continued to grow and finally was moved to
the Sephardic Institute at 511 Avenue R. At that point, 100-
150 people were coming a week.

One strange phenomenon that many of those who attended his
shiur reported was that each felt Rav Miller was
specifically speaking to him. Many times listeners told
their friends, "How did the Rav know what was happening to
me? How did he know I was having problems with my boss?"

Despite Rav Miller stressing that a person should never put
himself in danger, one week one of his regular listeners
challenged four street toughs who had been starting up with
him. Of course, that Thursday night Rav Miller warned his
audience never to put themselves in danger again!

The shiur moved to Achiezer shul when the Sephardic
Institute burnt down. The number of attendees continued to
grow. They reached 300 and at one point zoomed up to
1000.

At the same time, Pinchos's tape production was burgeoning.
At first, he needed two copying machines, then he bought
another one. He had to draft his children to help produce
and send out all the tapes every week throughout New York
and the U.S. He sent a tape to a French lady who translated
the contents to another 300 women. Tapes were sent to rabbis
in South Africa who lectured their own congregations on the
themes which Rav Miller expounded and started tape libraries
for the benefit of their congregants.

Amazing stories began to arrive of the impact which the
tapes had on people. One rosh kollel in South Africa
told one of Rav Miller's students that six families in his
kehilla became religious merely from hearing the
tapes.

The tape production of Rav Miller's lectures was finally
streamlined and done professionally. Over the years, it was
handed over to Rav Miller's son, who today handles the
production and dissemination.

From 1967 to 2001, over 2,500 tapes were produced of Rav
Miller's Thursday night shiurim -- in addition to
numerous other shiurim he gave on gemora and
mussar. Hundreds of thousands of tapes were sold
whose impact on people's lives was immeasurable.

It should be noted that, although today listening to
cassette recordings of famous speakers is common in the
Torah community, Rav Miller was the first whose shiurim
were publicly disseminated.

Many of the impressed listeners of his shiurim came
to join his shul and his gemora shiurim.

Even today, 30 years later, the tapes are as popular as ever
and orders still come in from all around the world.

The Shul Moves

The neighborhood in East Flatbush had been deteriorating for
several years. Things came to a head in 1975, when Rav
Miller together with the congregation decided to move the
congregation to Ocean Parkway near the Mirrer Yeshiva. It
was an unavoidable step for the congregation, but
fortunately, it also gave Rav Miller a wider purview in his
efforts to disseminate Torah.

A house was bought at 1821 Ocean Parkway, a mere half block
from Mirrer Yeshiva. The building was renovated into a
shul with 190 seats for the men and 100 seats for the
ladies. Forty families of Rav Miller's most dedicated
congregants made the move together with him, since it was
unthinkable to give up their rav. It was decided to change
the name of the shul from Young Israel of Rugby Park
to Beis Yisroel Torah Center, although here too, there was
no sign on the outside, advertising the new house of
worship.

During that year there was a mass exodus of Syrian Jews to
Deal, a sprawling suburban town in New Jersey. Real estate
plummeted its lowest level in many years. Rav Miller
encouraged his congregants to buy homes as close to the
Mirrer Yeshiva as possible.

The following year, there was another exodus of Syrian Jews
back from Deal to Ocean Parkway, after many realized the
disadvantage of living out of New York. Prices of houses
rocketed, but by then, Rav Miller's congregants were all
living in the neighborhood. Divine providence had lowered
prices just that year so Rav Miller could bring his
congregation to a new neighborhood where their Torah study
and spiritual growth was given a new impetus.

Now the Thursday night shiur was held in Rav Miller's
own shul. His own congregants could enjoy hearing the
shiur, since Rav Miller decided to repeat it again
Shabbos afternoon.

Now that Rav Miller's own congregation was within reach,
many of the Sephardim who had faithfully attended his
shiurim decided to join the shul. With the
time, between 15-20 percent of the shul's membership
was Sephardic, with the rest comprising Ashkenazim. The
shul had an interesting mix of second and third-
generation Americans formed from young new families and old-
timers who had been with Rav Miller for 25 years. Despite
the differences in minhagim and background, the
shul was united under Rav Miller's leadership and a
commitment to Torah study.

Changes were also taking place in the Thursday night
shiur. From having an exclusive Sephardic and Litvish
audience, slowly chassidim from Williamsburg, Monroe
and Boro Park began to attend. At various times, up to half
the audience was chassidic. A packed van would travel in
from Mt. Kisco too. Modern Orthodox listeners and baalei
teshuva dotted the audience. The whole spectrum of Torah
Jewry was present, because everyone felt he was talking to
them.

The fame which the Thursday night shiur brought Rav
Miller, had an impact on his shul. It became a matter
of pride to be a member of Rav Miller's shul.
Eventually, his shul prided itself on being a
unique congregation composed of Sephardim, Litvaks and
Chassidim. What bound them all was their reverence for Rav
Miller and their dedication to Torah study.

Later Years

In 1983, Rav Miller's son Rav Shmuel opened his yeshiva and
Rav Miller began to give discourses and vaadim to the
students. The yeshiva's name was a takeoff of the shul
"Beis Yisroel."

In retrospect, the rav's multifold activities were
incredible, especially when one considered his age. He was
57 when he wrote his first book. He was almost 60 years old
when he began to teach his congregants gemora in
1967. He was 65 when his first tapes began to spread
throughout the Jewish world. His public works began to soar
at a time when most people are beginning to wind down and
close shop. His massive accomplishments in the Torah world
over the past 30 years took place when he was in his 60s,
70s and 80s -- and remained unabated until his death at the
age of 93.

He was very vigilant about ushmartem es
nafshoseichem. He carefully watched his health and made
it an unassailable practice to eat healthy food and walk
every day for an hour and a half. When he reached old age he
slowed this down to an hour, but still faithfully maintained
this exercise period. Indeed, throughout his life, he was
hardly ever sick. His good state of health was also due to
the exceptional care which his wife Ethel lavished on him
and her efforts to ensure that the rav was not inundated
with community work.

When he was in his late 80s, Rav Miller had to have a valve
replacement on his heart. He asked the surgical team if they
weren't afraid to operate on a person close to 90. The
doctors told him they weren't afraid to operate on him since
he was a healthy person. "Age is not a determining factor as
far as you're concerned," they assured him. He had the
surgery done and within a few weeks was back to his regular
activities.

He conveyed the importance of taking care of their health to
his congregants too. When a congregant brought his daughter
for a blessing before she went to study in Gateshead, Rav
Miller told her pointedly, "Eat three good meals a day, get
plenty of sleep, and watch out for English germs."

Rav Miller's mental and physical capacities remained strong
and lucid until the end. He mentioned shortly before his
passing that his earliest memories go back to when he was
two. His exceptional memory never failed him.

Final Illness

Rav Miller reached his 93rd birthday brimming with plans to
publish more books. In March he finally published the final
book to his commentary on Chumash. He was preparing
three volumes on the Aggados of the Shas for
print. He was working on three volumes on the Holocaust. He
had prepared outlines to finish his history series. He had
taped shiurim on Shaarei Tshuva, Mesillas
Yeshorim, Chovos Halevovos, and Pirkei Ovos which
he was thinking of putting into written form, including 83
one-and- a-half hour tapes of shiurim he had given on
Mesillas Yeshorim. He had 49 tapes on Perek
Cheilek of Sanhedrin. He prayed often asking for
Hashem to give him more years so he could continue to
disseminate Torah study and inspiration for Torah living to
the public.

A few weeks before Pesach, he was diagnosed with a benign
form of leukemia. The shul began to recite
Tehillim throughout the day, although his congregants
were relieved to see that Rav Miller, although weakened,
could still carry his daily load. The congregants kept away
except for emergencies, since they knew that the Rav needed
to rest.

Pesach passed in high spirits. Rav Miller felt well enough
to give a shiur on the seventh day of Pesach.

After praying mincha intensely at his shul on
Wednesday, April 18 (25 Nisan), a great weakness overcame
him and he was hospitalized. His family attended him around
the clock.

The doctors optimistically thought that they could discharge
him by the following Sunday, and his congregation eagerly
anticipated his return. But the following day he grew
progressively weaker. Despite his precarious state, he was
calm and reposed. The Next World had been such a concrete
concept to him throughout his life that he faced death with
the same calmness that one faces stepping through a door.

On that day, his wife and children came to receive his final
blessing. His oldest son R' Eliezer spent two hours talking
with him privately that day.

Rav Miller told him not to cry when he goes, because he had
a good life. He instructed him where to find the deed to the
grave which he purchased in Har Hazeisim, and where he could
find a letter he had written to the family.

And then Rav Miller began to review all the kindnesses which
Hashem had done for him throughout his life. He recalled his
good fortune to have left Baltimore to attend yeshiva in New
York, his arrival in Slobodke in 1932, studying under Rav
Eizik Sher and Rav Avrohom Grodzensky, and the fact that he
was able to leave Chelsea for New York to be the
mashgiach in Yeshivas Chaim Berlin.

He mentioned the Chovos Halevovos, which had been his
guidebook through life. He told his son, "If you want to be
happy, learn Chovos Halevovos. And if you want to be
really happy, learn on top of that Mesillas
Yeshorim."

The hospital ward filled with followers and family as word
spread that the rav's situation was serious. Hatzala members
who were present called the Chevra Kadisha. The waiting room
was also full of people reciting Tehillim, many of
them Satmar chassidim who had been among his most
fervent followers. More than a minyan of men were
present in the room with him, including his children and a
nephew.

Darkness had descended and several hours slowly ticked by.
Rav Miller mentioned that an overwhelming weakness had
overcome him. He then recited Krias Shema slowly,
word by word, thinking deeply of each word's meaning. Then
he counted Sefira. He asked for a drink of water and
recited a blessing over it.

Then he recited Borei Nefoshos with great
concentration. "Blessed are You, Hashem, our G-d, King of
the Universe, Creator of numerous living things and what
they lack. Everything He has created is in order to sustain
the life of every being. Blessed is the Life of the
Universe." This common prayer summed up in a few short words
what had been the focus of Rav Miller's life.

Around midnight, he suffered a spasm and became unconscious.
A short time later, his soul departed. The date was 27
Nisan, 5761 (April 20, 2001).

The Chevra Kadisha men prepared his body and transported it
to the funeral home. Ten of his closest congregants and
followers were called at 4 in the morning and told that Rav
Miller had passed away. They organized a minyan to go
to the funeral home and recite Tehillim around the
aron.

Funeral and Eulogies

The entire congregation was plunged into deep mourning.
Rabbi S., a congregant, relates, "We felt we had lost a
parent."

Another shift of congregants came at 7:30 to say
Tehillim so the first group could daven.

The funeral was delayed until Sunday because the aron
could not be transported to Israel before Shabbos. For
two days around the clock, the congregants in the shul
organized watches of people saying Tehillim next
to the aron at the funeral home.

The funeral started from his shul, the Beis Yisroel
Torah Center, at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday morning, 29 Nisan
(April 22). Rav Miller had rarely left the close environment
of his shul and shiurim. But now, at his
funeral, the whole Torah world came to him.

His shul still didn't have a sign announcing to
visitors whose house of worship it was. But within a few
hours, 30,000 people were standing outside the shul
to pay their final respects to Rav Miller. Admirers of
Rav Miller flew in from Detroit and St. Louis. Some who
wanted to fly in from England were told not to, since they
would not make the funeral in time.

The shul was packed with admirers and congregants who
had come to hear the eulogies, while outside loudspeakers
conveyed the speeches to the masses for whom there was no
room. Hookups were made to the Mirrer Yeshiva and the
Achiezer Sephardic shul a block down on Ocean Parkway.

Eulogies were delivered by HaRav Shmuel Birnbaum, the
rosh yeshiva of the Mirrer Yeshiva in the United
States; HaRav Chaim Pinchos Scheinberg, rosh yeshiva
of Torah Or; the Novominsker Rebbe; HaRav Y. Rosenblum, the
rosh yeshiva of Shaarei Yosher; two of HaRav Miller's
sons-in-law, HaRav Elchonon Brog, a maggid shiur in
the Chaim Berlin yeshiva and HaRav Yerucham Lishinsky, a
maggid shiur in the Mirrer yeshiva; HaRav Miller's
son, HaRav Shmuel Miller, rosh yeshiva of Beis
Yisroel yeshiva; and HaRav E. Raful of the New York Syrian
community.

Rav Miller's aron was then accompanied by his two
sons, a son-in-law and two grandsons to Eretz Yisroel.

In Eretz Yisroel

An enormous levaya with an estimated 25,000 in
attendance was held the following day in Jerusalem, starting
out from Mirrer Yeshiva.

The first eulogy was delivered by the Mirrer rosh
yeshiva, HaRav Nosson Tzvi Finkel, who lamented the
great loss the Torah community is suffering by the passing
of such a great man and educator. He asked the deceased to
go up before the Heavenly Throne and beg for divine
assistance to prevent the Torah community from being
affected by the decadent atmosphere widespread in the
world.

Rav Miller's third son-in-law, HaRav Herschel Kanerek,
mentioned the great merit he had in being close to his
father-in-law for the past thirty ears. "There was nothing
he did without thinking through carefully." He spoke about
Rav Miller's extreme joy of living and his gratitude to
Hashem for life.

HaRav Moshe Sternbuch, called out: "A great Torah prince has
fallen in Israel. People returned to Judaism because of his
tapes. He merited to have true Torah views. . . When Moshe
Rabbenu passed away, Hashem lamented: 'Who can take the
place of this one who feared G-d?' The same may be said
about the deceased. It is a good sign when one dies on
Shabbos eve, for it indicates that throughout his life he
prepared himself for his departure to the World to Come."

HaRav Boruch Rosenberg, the rosh yeshiva of Slobodke
in Bnei Brak said: "We are standing before the aron
of a great man. Can we assess his greatness? He was a great
servant of Hashem. He did not waste even one moment of his
life. When one wanted to meet him, it was impossible to find
time, even for urgent issues. For decades, he has brought
the multitudes to merit in a remarkable manner. I don't know
if anyone was as great as he in how he influenced the public
to virtue. He influenced hundreds and perhaps thousands of
Jews to draw closer to their Father in heaven. His success
was unprecedented. A person will return to Judaism only if
he is told the absolute truth: that there is a Master to the
universe. And that is precisely what he did his entire
life."

His son, HaRav Shmuel, the rosh yeshiva of Beis
Yisroel, eulogized him: "He taught many and influenced many
to study Torah. His strength stemmed from the strength of
Chovos Halevovos, which was his guidebook. He was a man of
truth."

HaRav Shmuel Yaakov Bornstein, rosh yeshiva of the
Chevron Geula yeshiva, defined the deceased as a "giant
among giants." He said, "Today is a difficult day for
Yisroel. He spread Torah with all of his might throughout
his life. He was `exclusively for Hashem' and utilized every
moment of his life for Torah."

The last eulogy was delivered by HaRav Matisyahu Solomon,
the mashgiach of the Lakewood yeshiva of the United
States: "All of his life, he was like Avrohom Ovinu --
promulgating truth, belief in G-d and love of one's fellow.
He proclaimed to the entire world that there is a Creator of
the universe, and thousands and tens of thousands gathered
around him to hear his teachings."

The gedolim and tzadikim of our generation and
the earlier one held Rav Miller in high esteem.
Gedolim testified that he mirrored the greatness of
Jewish sages of former generations. The Satmar Rav had once
said about him, "He was not of this generation." While he
was firmly implanted in the previous generation, he cast his
glory on this one.

At the end of the eulogies, a massive throng accompanied him
to his final resting place on Har Hazeisim.

Successor and Farewell

Rav Miller had refused to suggest a successor to himself. He
told his son that it would be up to the baalebatim in
his shul to choose whoever they thought would be a
fitting successor.

After the funeral, the presidium mournfully met and decided
to appoint Rav Miller's grandson HaRav Eliyahu Brog as the
new rav. Rav Brog, 42, had studied his entire life in the
Mirrer yeshiva. He had spent many years davening in
his grandfather's shul and listening to his
shiurim and lectures. He was a faithful follower of
his grandfather's world view and goals.

With the appointment of rabbonus, Rav Brog also
undertook the heavy load of his grandfather's
shiurim.

After Rav Miller's passing, his family found a letter he had
left behind for them. Like all of his writings, it was a
masterpiece which movingly expressed his loving farewell to
his family and congregation.

He told his children how he loved them all and how much
nachas they had given him.

He reiterated how he thanked Hashem for all the blessings He
had given him. "I cannot say the end of His praises for all
He has given me from the beginning to the end of my
life."

He exhorted his family to continue going in the Torah's way,
and to thank Hashem for all the good He does to them,
including prior kindnesses done to the family.

He thanked many people in his congregation who had dealt
with him kindly, mentioning a few by name. He thanked select
people who were not his congregants but who had helped him
through the years.

He bid his family to go in the ways of mussar,
observe the ways of piety, and keep away from the ways
of the goyim.

He ended his letter asking that Hashem bless them together
with faithful Jews everywhere -- and that they forever be
successful in their spiritual and earthly affairs.

Confronted by a Hoodlum

Thirty-eight years ago, Rav Miller attended a large
demonstration in Manhattan together with students from
yeshivos all over New York protesting that the Brisker Rav
had been insulted.

On the way home, he invited a student to walk with him
through Manhattan towards Brooklyn.

As they walked through a deserted side street, a tall street
tough quickly approached the two and stuck his hand out
ominously asking for money. The man wasn't a downhearted
panhandler and he looked like he might grab Rav Miller's
wallet if the rav took it out to give him money. However,
Rav Miller and his student realized that if they wouldn't
give the man a donation, he might become violent and hurt
them. Nor could they run away and turn to someone for safety
because they were in a deserted side street.

The frightened student looked towards Rav Miller for
guidance. Suddenly he heard Rav Miller talk to the man with
words of gibberish. The street tough looked at him, and
again demanded that he give him money. Rav Miller calmly
repeated his earlier mumble-jumble. The man asked him for
money more threateningly. R. Miller again calmly said the
same incomprehensible words.

The street tough became irked. A few more times he demanded
money and each time he was responded to with the strange,
incomprehensible words. He finally became so frustrated that
he shrugged his shoulders and walked away.

Rav Miller and the student quickly left the scene. When they
were a safe distance away, his student asked him what he had
said. He knew it wasn't Hebrew or Yiddish.

Rav Miller explained that when he studied in Lithuania, he
used to take long walks around the nearby countryside. Over
the time, he had picked up an odd dialect of Lithuanian. Rav
Miller was afraid that the man who was accosting them might
recognize French or Spanish, so he chose to speak in a
strange dialect that he knew the man wouldn't be able to
understand. He had hoped that the man would become
frustrated at not being able to communicate until he walked
away -- which is exactly what happened. The brilliance of
Rav Miller was that he thought of this response within mere
seconds, and when he spoke the words in Lithuanian, he was
totally calm and in control.

He reminded his student of one of his frequent sayings --
that a person has to thank Hashem even for his thoughts.

Teaching Passages About Mazikim

In the beginning, when Rav Miller's gemora study
group would encounter sections dealing with mazikim
or supernatural phenomenon in the gemora, he would
say, "We'll skip the next ten lines because we need more
yiras Shomayim for this."

Utilize the Opportunity to Influence Others

One day Rav Miller was walking in the Slobodke yeshiva in
Lithuania when he came across a young man he had known in
Yeshiva University. This young man had been a lightheaded
fellow and a joker, who lacked even minimal yiras
Shomayim. But here he was, in the Slobodke yeshiva of
all places! Not only had he come, but he even wore his
tzitzis out, a sign of unusual piety which at the
time was highly unusual even in a yeshiva.

Rav Miller went over to the young man, gave him a "Sholom
Aleichem" and asked what he was doing there. The
bochur told him, "Do you remember that day that we
met in the corridor in Yeshiva University? You looked at me
and said, `When will you make something of yourself and take
life seriously?' Your words penetrated deeply, and shook me
up. That was my turning point."

Rav Miller would tell this story to his students and then
add that if they had an opportunity to influence another for
the good, or even an opportunity to just say something
thought-provoking, they should do it even if they're not
sure the other person will accept it.

"Once it goes down the hatch, it's there," Rav Miller would
say. "It might take a week, a month or a day, but it never
leaves the person's brain. One never knows when it will bear
fruits."